Before They Were the Solos
by organanation
Summary: Lawyer Leia Organa is living in DC to escape something she'd rather forget about. Moving-man Han Solo is living in DC with his Newfie, waiting for...something. One day, they each take a walk to the park. Han's dog gets loose and starts chasing a pretty girl... 1960s Han and Leia Earthbound AU.
1. Prologue

_AN: I am so, so thrilled to start this, but a few things before we do: Regarding New Hope, IN by the wonderful Cicatrick: There are a few similarities between her amazing story and this one, namely that they are both about Han and Leia and are set in mid-Century US. However, as we get going, you will find that those are about the only similarities. No plagiarism is intended, and we spoke about this previously and I was given the go-ahead to publish. Thanks, Cic! Next, regarding some touchy themes appearing later: Leia is a politician in the 1960s. She deals with racism and sexism. I hope I have handled this with the grace we have come to expect of her. Finally, this is not meant to be a retelling of Star Wars. I just really liked the idea of Han and Leia in the 1960s. So while you will definitely recognize some of their exchanges, it's pretty doubtful that you'll be able to track your way through the OT. Thank you so, so much to Reading Writing Watching and to Captainskysolo for beta-reading! With that said, I give you "Before They Were the Solos."_

Prologue

"Daddy, don't forget the milk."

"Thanks for reminding me, baby." He slowed the car down and pulled into the grocery store. It was raining and he put his arm around his daughter, tucking her into his jacket and out of the elements. The clerk waved at the familiar duo and he called a greeting to the man.

"I love you, baby. You know that, right?" he asked out of the blue.

"Yes, Daddy. I love you, too." he hugged her tightly, almost desperately, with one arm for a moment.

"Good. Baby, your Mama is out of ivory soap. Will you go get her a new package, please?"

"Yes, Daddy," she replied, pulling her arm out from his and starting for the other side of the store where the personal items were kept.

Panic suddenly swept over her in waves and everything became unclear…confusion, laughter, screaming…blood. Her father was nowhere to be found. There were people everywhere, talking to her in garbled language. There was blood everywhere, and her heart began beating faster, and somehow she knew that the blood would lead to her father…there was a white sheet thrown over something on the tile floor. She was simultaneously looking at the scene from her perspective and from above. She reached out to lift the white sheet and someone screamed at her, a thousand loving hands pulled her away before a single black-gloved fist reached through the cloud and began winding her in the sheet and soaking her long coat in blood.

She sat up suddenly, chest heaving to replace oxygen. She was still tangled in a sheet—her own bed sheet. The floral-patterned quilt was on the floor. She snapped on the cone-shaped lamp on the table beside her bed, the small bulb lighting up the golden walls with a warm glow. Glancing around the room, she grounding herself. The dresser was in the corner by the closet covered with the lace doily and her jewelry, her bookshelf in the corner piled high with and surrounded by stacks of books. Her desk under the window, covered with papers and folders and briefings. Flowered curtains that matched her bedspread drawn over the window. A braided throw rug covered the floor. No blood, no crowded supermarket, no hands. Just a nightmare.

A glance at her golden alarm clock told her the time: 3:56 am. She knew from prior experience that she wasn't likely to get back to sleep.

When her roommate woke up at 6:30, she found a note on the kitchen counter. _S- Couldn't sleep so I scrubbed the kitchen floor. Ran out of soap at 5 so I went to work. Have a good day, I'll be home late. -L._


	2. A Walk

50 years ago, in a suburb of Washington DC, moving man and diesel mechanic Han Solo and lawyer Leia Organa were returning to their respective homes after stressful, tiring days at work. They were both looking forward to a quiet dinner at home, followed by a walk to the park. They had no idea how important that day would be to the rest of their lives.

August, 1965

Han Solo dumped his lunch pail on the counter between the stack of dirty dishes and the row of cereal boxes on his yellow counter. He pulled his 'DC Moving Co.' shirt over his head and tossed it over the kitchen chair, digging through the basket of mostly-clean laundry by the basement stairs for a tee shirt. He grabbed the aspirin off the window sill above the sink and popped a few in his mouth. _Damn, that rich lady's piano was heavy_ , he thought, rubbing his stiff shoulder. _Oh well._ Only another year or so and he'd be able to apply to drive an 18-wheeler full-time. He cracked open a can of dog food for Chewbacca and warmed up a TV dinner for himself. Once it was ready, he took it into the living room with a beer and turned on the news while he ate. When he finished, Han threw the metal tray in the garbage and glanced around his messy house.

"Life of a couple bachelors, eh, Chewie?" He asked, nudging a stack of newspapers with his foot. "Probably a good thing I can't keep a woman. She'd take one look at this and you and me and she'd be in Maryland before I could say, '''scuze the mess'." Chewbacca looked at him expectantly. "I don't even _want_ a woman." Han wasn't sure if he was reminding the dog or himself. "Let's go for a walk, pal."

00

Leia Organa slammed the book shut in frustration and immediately began flipping through the pages to find her place, chastising herself for letting her anger get the upper hand. She found the page, stuck her pencil in the crook, and looked at the photograph on the desk beside her. Her parents smiled warmly at her, and her heart began to ache. That picture had been taken just a few short months before a white supremacist had taken her father's life for defending a black man in court.

She needed a few minutes to clear her head. Leia tugged her sandals on and set off for the park a few blocks away.

She worked for a member of the US senate, a man who'd been a dear friend of her father's. It was good work, stable, paid alright. But it was so repetitive sometimes, and so stressful, especially around election time.

Children and dogs played in front yards as she walked by, and she fondly recalled her summers at home, back when she didn't have to go to work all year. Her favorite game had been house, which she'd played nearly every day with Winter, the little girl from next door. A few children were playing on the playground when she arrived at the park, and many couples of varying ages were strolling about, hand in hand or arm in arm. Leia felt a sudden pang of loneliness, though she quickly pushed it away.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a giant brown bear was bounding toward her at full speed. Panicking, Leia turned and ran. The bear, however, followed. _They do_ not _teach you how to handle bears at Harvard.._. She reached a tree and hoped to hide behind it, but the bear came around and began sniffing her feet as she tried to make herself as small as possible.

"Please…don't eat me…" she begged the bear. The thing was enormous, its head almost even with her chest. Leia cringed away as it pushed its nose into her hand.

"Chewie! Chewbacca, get back here!" Both beast and lady turned towards the man's voice and the bear let out a bark that shook Leia to her shoes. The owner of the voice came into view and Leia was quite sure she'd never seen a more handsome and rugged-looking man in her entire life. His hair was dark, and he wore it long and shaggy, as was the style of the day. He was wearing a pair of jeans with a geometric-patterned t-shirt tucked in. He whistled and the bear—dog—lumbered sheepishly out to him. Leia stayed pressed into the trunk of the tree, watching as the man patted the dog's head and then scolded it for running away.

"See what you did, ya furry oaf? You scared a pretty lady," the man admonished, giving her a smirk that made her legs feel like one of her aunt's molded Jello salads. She stepped away from the tree, towards him. "Sorry. Chewie's big, but pretty harmless." Leia suddenly found her ire and impatience from the day returning inexplicably as she looked at this smirking idiot and his giant dog.

"You should really keep that thing on a leash, you know. It's city ordinance." The man's expression changed when she referred to his beloved pet as 'that thing'.

"Sure, and get my arm yanked out when he sees a squirrel. What are you, the mayor or somethin'? Usually, he's pretty well behaved and I don't have to worry about him runnin' off. And most people aren't _scared_ of him," he emphasized. Leia's blood began to boil.

"Well, excuse me for _running away_ when a giant _bear_ comes running at me out of nowhere! I was taught that you can meet a lot of problems head on, but things twice as big as you that are gaining considerable speed belong decidedly in the _'Don't Meet Head On'_ category!" she argued, almost feeling sorry for the man. She could occasionally let her anger get the best of her, and she pitied the poor soul who was on the receiving end of her untampered rage.

"A bear? You thought he was a _bear?_ Have you ever set foot outside the city? Chewie is a Newfoundland hound dog, not a grizzly."

"Excuse me for not being able to identify the exact breed as he came galloping at me, you…you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking…bear keeper!" She finished angrily. _Bear keeper? What the hell, Organa!_ Bear keeper _? What kind of insult is that?_

"Who's scruffy-lookin'?" He asked angrily. Leia huffed derisively. "Well, maybe we can discuss my looks some other time, your _highness_. Right now, I'd like to get poor Chewie, here, home before you call Smokey the Bear on me!"

"Why on earth would I call a made-up character involved in _fire prevention_ to report that you walk your dog without a leash?" she asked, throwing the full force of her law degree arguing skills at him. It _was_ a good point, though, and she saw him panic a bit at it.

"How the hell should I know? Probably because…you've got a…fire goin' under your butt, that's why," he retorted. Leia nearly snorted. "Come on, Chewie," he commanded, and the dog sprang into step beside his master as he stormed away.

Leia remained under the trees for a moment, trying to make sense of the encounter. At first, she was worried that she wouldn't be able to get any work done thinking about the dog and his infuriatingly attractive master. Instead, however, she found that the argument had invigorated her, and she was ready to take another crack at the mess waiting for her back at the apartment.

"How was your walk?" her roommate asked when Leia reentered the pink kitchen 10 minutes later.

"Hmm…boring."

00

Every other word going through Han's mind as he walked home that night was a curse word. He'd never seen a woman as captivatingly beautiful as her before: straight brown hair that she wore cut to the shoulder; a petite frame that was no doubt both strong and delicate; deep eyes that begged him to come closer… and what had he gone and said to her?

His granny would have knocked him upside the head for saying things like that to a woman. Hell, he was ready to knock _himself_ on the head for saying that to…what was her name?

"I didn't even get her name!" He slapped his forehead and looked down at Chewie. "I am such an idiot." They walked on and Han studied Chewbacca's gait. "You know, you do kinda look like a bear," he muttered. The dog gave a groan and looked up at him with an expression that could only mean 'well, at least I'm not scruffy-looking.'

 _AN: Thanks for reading! Please feel free to leave a review (hint hint nudge nudge the box right down there)! If you have any questions, leave them in a review, send me a message, or ask me on tumblr organanation. Another chapter next Sunday!_


	3. Traffic Outta Hell

_AN: And we're back with another exciting chapter! I am so thankful for all the support, and thanks especially to the guest reviewers and those of you that I didn't get around to thanking personally (this website has been so persnickity, so I apologize!)_

Traffic Outta Hell

October, 1965

Han paced nervously in Kes's living room, tugging at the sharp pleat in his pants.

"Shara says she's great, man. She's different from all the other chicks I've tried to set you up with. See, that right there means it's going to be better: I let my girl help," Kes begged Han. Kes worked with Han at the moving company and had been trying, almost since they met, to find Han a nice girl. Problem was, Han and Kes had very different ideas about what made a girl 'nice.'

Kes wanted somebody sweet that would laugh at his jokes and would make a good little housewife and mother for their 17 kids, and now he was engaged to just such a girl.

Han wasn't really looking to settle down and knew it would take quite a girl to make him reconsider that stance. But, on the lonely nights when he imagined what it would be like to come home to someone… he couldn't really care less if she could cook or wanted kids. He wanted someone to talk to, someone to laugh with—and argue with. And she had to be a good kisser.

"Whatever you say. But if she doesn't show, I'm out. I'm done with this blind date crap," Han said adamantly.

"Fine. But she'll show. She's Shara's roommate; she _has_ to come," Kes explained. "And even if it doesn't work out between you two, it'll still be good to meet her. Shara asked her to be in the wedding, too." _Great,_ Han thought. _No matter how this date goes, I gotta spend the next six months doing wedding crap with this kid. Absolutely_ nothing _can go wrong with this situation…_

Han cracked opened a beer and took a drink, settling anxiously on Kes's low, coral-colored couch. He probably wouldn't make it to the park tonight. It wasn't like he _waited_ for her or anything; Chewie needed his exercise. But, Han's cruel sense of irony told him that the first night he didn't show would be the night she reappeared.

He'd made up all sorts of stories in his head to explain why he'd never seen her again, ranging from relatively normal (she was in town on business, had decided to get some exercise, and then left the next morning, never to return to the city) to the absurd (she was captured by the mob and was being held hostage, waiting for the valiant man she'd argued with in the park two months ago to come charging into the mob boss's house with his bear-dog to save her).

The door opened and Han stood quickly. Shara walked in alone.

"Sorry, Han. She was held over at work and isn't going to make it," Shara explained sadly. Han shrugged and knocked back his drink. Kes followed his fiancée into the kitchen and they talked quietly for a few minutes before Shara announced that dinner was on. Han ate in silence, answering their increasingly desperate questions with single-word answers. He left after dinner, turning down Shara's offer of dessert. If he hurried, he could still get to the park before it got to be dark out.

00

Leia dumped her briefcase by the door and changed from her wool dress and patent leather heels to a simple flowered shift and sneakers. She plucked the pins from her bun and ran her fingers through her shoulder-length hair. Shrugging on her father's old peacoat, she started toward the park.

Leia wondered if she should feel bad about standing up Kes's friend on their blind date that evening. Shara had practically begged her to go, but Leia wasn't comfortable with the idea of blind dates.

At least, that was the excuse she had made.

The real reason was that it had been exactly one year and six months since that rainy day in Alabama when she'd lost her father, her greatest supporter, her dearest friend.

There was a crispness to the air that told her autumn was on its way. The cool air hadn't discouraged everyone from being at the park, but it was noticeably emptier than it had been when she'd walked down here nearly two months ago and met Chewbacca and his master. A small family was at the play area and a few couples were scattered around, but she had the sidewalk to herself.

Finding an empty bench by the lake, she sat down and took out her novel, hoping to read a chapter or two before it got too dark. After the first few pages, Leia found herself incapable of focusing, instead looking around the park expectantly. She was just about to give up and go home when Chewbacca, the big brown bear-dog, walked up and dropped his head right in her lap. Leia looked around for his owner, but saw no one. She pulled out a pen and a scrap of paper from her purse.

00

"Damn dog. Can't listen for five seconds," Han cursed under his breath, looking quickly around the park, hoping that Chewie hadn't run into the road or something. He went down to the lake, swearing up and down that if Chewie had decided to go for a swim…

It was _her_. She was sitting on the bench under the tree, wearing an enormous coat, a book beside her. His dog had found her _again_. _Good boy,_ Han thought, reminding himself to give Chewie a bone when they got back to the house.

"There you are," he said, looking at the woman.

"He just came up and sat down," she replied, and it took Han a moment to realize that she thought he'd been talking about his dog.

"Right. Yeah. He's pretty friendly. _Too_ friendly, sometimes." _But definitely not right now._

"He really is a nice dog," she admitted, smiling at him. Han thought he might die of happiness.

"Sorry 'bout the last time we met…I don't…" he began. She laughed nervously.

"You can't take all the blame; if I recall, it was mostly my fault."

"I'm Han."

"Leia." _Leia. It was perfect for her. Leia._ Han stepped forward to shake her hand. Chewbacca picked just that moment to stand up and Han tripped over him, landing in Leia's lap. She shoved him to the ground and he fell half onto Chewie and half onto the sidewalk.

"I'm sor…" he began, but Leia cut across him.

"How _dare_ you! You know, I could have you arrested!" she yelled.

"It was an _accident_ , lady. I tripped over my bear," Han mumbled.

"I don't think I have ever met someone so _infuriating_ …"

"I'm infuriating? _I_ am _?_ "

"Yes, _you_! You and your…smile and your…using your dog to hit on women…" He stopped.

"First of all, I don't use my dog to hit on women. He is just a pile of fur that I dragged out of a gutter one rainy day."

"See? Telling me that you saved a…poor baby animal…" Leia stumbled, looking down at Chewbacca's puppy dog eyes.

"And second of all, what do you mean, my _smile?_ "

"I just…ugh!" She stormed off. Han almost chased her, but instead, he stood and watched her go, somehow bolstered by the fact that he got the last word.

It wasn't until she was just too far to run after that he realized that he was a complete idiot and had let her get away _again_.

He cursed his pride, ordered Chewie to heel, and began the angry walk home that he now knew far too well. He slammed the door and banged around in the kitchen for a few minutes, cursing the whole damn mess of a night.

 _First Shara's roommate bails, and then I find_ her _…_ Leia _…and I blow it…_ Han began to wonder if his problem didn't lie with the female population of DC, but with _him._ He poured himself a drink. Chewbacca ambled in, his paws clicking on the orange laminate scratched at his collar for the umpteenth time and Han finally called him over to see what was bothering him, figuring he'd gotten a leaf caught in his hair.

"What the…" Wrapped around Chewie's collar was a folded piece of white paper. Han dislodged it carefully and unfolded it. In neat, curvy writing, was written a telephone number under the name _Leia Organa_. Han broke into a wide grin and put the paper into his pocket.

00

"Hi, I'm calling for Leia Organa."

"Just a minute, I'll get her." Han thought he recognized the voice, but couldn't place it. He waited nervously for her to come to the telephone.

"This is Leia."

"Hi. It's Han, from the park? With the dog?"

"Go to hell," she spat before slamming the phone down. Han winced and looked down at Chewbacca.

"That could have gone better."

00

"He's not a bad guy, Leia. A little rough around the edges, but the best ones always are."

"He's the best man in your wedding, Shara, not my future husband," Leia replied. "It doesn't matter if I like him or not. All we have to do is make sure you and Kes have a nice wedding." Shara smiled.

"I appreciate it, Leia." Shara put her arm around Leia as the back door opened. "Hello, Han, we're in the kitchen. Come in and meet the maid of honor," Shara called.

"Wait— _Han_?" Leia hissed as the man's footsteps echoed on the floor. He appeared in the kitchen doorway. Han from the park, the man with the big dog, the man she'd slipped her phone number to before arguing with him and deciding that she hated him again, the man she'd told to go to hell and then hung up on. _Whoops_.

"Hey, Shara," he greeted, his eyes never leaving Leia. "Sorry I'm late. There was a lot of traffic on the way out of _hell_ today," he emphasized the word and Leia knew that everything was neither forgiven nor forgotten.

"Busy day at the moving company, huh?" Shara asked, obviously not understanding his hidden meaning. "This is my roommate, best friend, and maid-of-honor, Leia Organa."

"Han Solo, your worshipfulness." Leia cringed. This was going to be a _trip_.

 _AN: Once again, please review! I love hearing your thoughts, theories, and questions! Feel free to hit me up on tumblr at organanation, also. Next week's chapter:_ A Wedding. _Y'all come back now, ya hear?_


	4. A Wedding

_AN: We're back with the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Dameron! So this chapter contains some "world-building"-we get a little backstory about both Han and Leia. Sorry if that's a little boring to you, but it will be beneficial information to have, I promise! Thanks to all of you who've stuck around, especially to those of you who reviewed! I read and appreciate every review!_

A Wedding

November, 1965

In November, Kes and Shara hosted a small dinner party so that the members of the wedding party could all get acquainted before the wedding. After the meal, the group had quickly separated to men and women, the men congregating in the living room to discuss whatever men discussed and the women gathering in the kitchen to wash the dishes and fuss over wedding details. Han and Leia were the last ones to leave, and Han caught her before she could begin her walk home.

"You wanna get a drink?" She eyed him suspiciously. "I need one after all that wedding nonsense, and I only had to deal with the men. You were with Shara and that gaggle of crazy women, so I thought you might need one, too. Just as a friendly thing, you know, best man and maid of honor. You probably don't have anyone to complain to. First round's on me. Come on, I hate to drink alone."

"Fine. Just one," she acquiesced. They walked down the block to the tiny neighborhood bar, her heels clicking on the sidewalk.

"I'll have a gin and tonic," Han asked when they were seated at the bar.

"Jack Daniels, please," Leia requested. The burly man nodded and turned towards the rows of glass bottles and decanters.

"Where'd you learn to drink whiskey? Most girls your age can't hardly handle a few glasses of wine."

"I'm from the South," she replied, "and I have had just about enough of this wedding. I am so sick of pretending to give a damn about the difference between eggshell and ecru and ivory."

"Just be glad you don't have to listen to Kes drone on about mortgages and the PTA…He and I moved some folks to Philly last week. That's _three hours_ , one way, not including loading and unloading time. They're not even married yet and he's already got their kids' lives all planned out."

"At least you don't _live_ with one of them. All Shara ever talks about is this wedding! This morning over breakfast, I was trying to read the paper and she asked me to help open the RSVP's." The bartender put their drinks on the bar.

"Here's to wedded bliss and wedding hell," Han toasted. Leia snorted and knocked back her whiskey. "Damn, sister. Remind me never to try to get you drunk." She smiled. This was a side of Han Solo that she'd never seen before; they fought like cats and dogs when Kes and Shara were out of earshot (and shot each other death glares when they were). She was beginning to find, however, that he was quite the conversationalist.

"You don't sound like you're from the South."

"I went to boarding school in New York, and law school in Boston. Not many people took me seriously as a woman becoming a lawyer, and the accent just made me even more of a joke, so I learned how to fake it. Eventually it became habit when I'm not around other people who speak that way. But it comes back easily," she explained. "Few more of these and you'd think we were in the middle of Alabama," she kidded, gesturing to her whiskey.

"Law school, hmm? I always wondered what you did, why you're always dressed like you're workin' for the president." Leia fingered the collar of her light wool dress self-consciously.

"I was a lawyer, for a short time. Now, I assist and advise a senator on matters of both state and federal laws so that he may make better-informed decisions and legislations." Han nodded.

"Hmm. Sounds…interesting."

"It's a job. It promises advancement. The dress code could use an update," she acquiesced, adjusting her sweater.

"You don't like wearing pointy-toed shoes and scratchy dresses all day?" he teased. Leia rolled her eyes and recited from the employee handbook.

"'All skirts must fall below the knee. Heels must be worn by females at all times. Dresses preferred to blouses. No jewelry except for a simple string of pearls.'"

"And you'd like to change that, hm? Let me guess, sneakers? Or are you a leather boots kinda girl? And of course, above-the-knee hemlines. I bet you got some pretty knees, princess." She almost laughed at that one.

"Actually, I'd prefer pants. And shoes that tie," she added as one of her slip-on shoes clunked loudly to the wooden floor beneath her dangling feet. "But, if this is what I have to do to be taken seriously, then so be it. I practiced law in Alabama, and I could have dressed in a ball gown and it wouldn't have been formal enough to get some of those men to take me seriously. What about you? You work with Kes?"

Han reeled a bit at her sudden redirection. Her response had left him with all sorts of questions…she _used to be_ a lawyer? She wasn't that old…it seemed strange that she'd given it up to come be a glorified secretary. The lawyering thing actually made sense, he supposed, with the way she could argue and spin words and shift attention.

"Yeah, yeah. Just bidin' my time, though," he offered, sipping his drink.

"Until what?" Damn, if this woman didn't have the propensity for asking the questions that cut right to the chase. _Lawyer,_ he reminded himself.

"Got a few more months to go yet before the company will pay for my CDL classes. Loyalty and all that, making sure you're a good investment. 'Til then, I'm stuck moving couches and dressers with the likes of Dameron. But, like you said. It's a job. Room for advancement."

The conversation grew increasingly more personal as they sat together, ignoring their glasses. They mostly talked about work but alluded to hints of their pasts that made them both want more.

"Do you ever think you'll get married?" he asked. Leia wondered if she'd somehow had more alcohol than she realized as she began telling him the honest truth.

"I don't know. It will be hard with my career, being that I work so much. I hope to run for office, someday, too. That would make it even harder. Longer hours, traveling between here and Alabama, campaigns…It would put a lot of stress on a marriage."

"But, for the right person…"

"I don't know if such a man exists," she teased, running a hand over the small coil of hair on the back of her head, tucking in stray strands. "What about you? Do you think you'll ever take the plunge?"

"I like being single. Lots of options out there. Like at this wedding. Three bridesmaids—besides you, of course…"

"What do you mean by that?" she demanded quickly.

"Nothin' personal, Your Worship. You just _never_ go after the maid of honor. She's too busy being at the beck and call of the bride. Sidetrack her, and you risk facing the wrath of the new Mrs. Joe Schmoe. No, you gotta make a play for the bridesmaids. The cousins, the old high school friends, the ones who are there just because they have too much dirt on the bride if they don't get a dress and a bouquet."

"Oh, no you don't. You aren't allowed to go after one of Shara's cousins and leave me all alone at the reception."

"You take all the fun out of it," he teased, taking a sip of his gin. He became serious. "I was close, once. To gettin' married. We were high school sweethearts and I asked her the night after graduation. My granny hated her. I shipped off to basic training two months later and got a 'Dear John' letter by Christmas. It was for the best, though. My granny was _thrilled_ I'd gotten rid of her _._ Looking back, we probably would have been divorced two times over by now. I guess, someday I might get married. She'd have to be something pretty spectacular."

"And until then, we drink with strangers," Leia finished for him, raising her newly-filled shot glass.

"To strangers who become friends."

00

April 17th, 1966

The wedding day was finally upon them. Leia looked over her reflection in the mirror and gave another shudder. The dress…it wasn't exactly flattering to her petite frame. Lace sleeves and a sheer cape did not do anything for its appeal. It almost appeared to be wearing her rather than the other way around. The peach color didn't do wonders for her pale complexion, either. She looked to the counter where the pillbox hat with the little veil waited. _This is for your best friend on the happiest day of her life. This is for your best friend on the happiest day of her life,_ she reminded herself as she pinned the tiny hat on. She practiced a genuine smile before leaving the bathroom and going to check on the flowers.

Leia watched quietly from behind the floral arrangements as Han paced in the back of the church. He was already the most handsome man she'd ever seen, but in his white tuxedo coat…Leia began to feel warm. She opened the box of boutonnieres and pulled one out for him.

"You look…wow," he began when he took notice of her.

"Hideous, I know."

"No, not hideous," he insisted. "It looks good." She swallowed a smile, pinned the carnation to his white lapel, and went on with her mental checklist.

"There. You're all set. How's the groom?"

"More nervous than the day he proposed to her. How's Shara?"

"Worried about everything. I'll be glad when we can get underway." The church bells chimed once somewhere above them.

"Thirty minutes."

"Did you pick up Shara's grandmother?" Leia asked. They'd been arguing the previous day about whose duty that was: the best man, who was supposed to be in charge of guests, or the maid of honor, the bride's right hand? Leia had finally won when she told Han that she would pick up Mrs. Bey if Han would go to the florist and pick up all the flowers, making sure each arrangement was correct.

"Yes," he replied with an eye roll.

"Good. Here are the envelopes for the organist and the pastor; please make sure you pass them on after the ceremony, before they depart," Leia ordered.

"I'll take care of it!" Han insisted, taking the envelopes and shoving them in his inner jacket pocket.

"Don't forget."

"I'm not going to forget, woman." He shot her an exasperated smile.

"It's my job to make sure everything goes well today."

"Well, relax. Things are fine."

"Did you write your toast?"

"Yes, do you want me to turn it in and get it corrected, teacher?" She ignored this remark and pushed forward.

"Did you bring the poster for Kes's car?"

"Yeah, and I got some cans to tie on, too."

"Nice try, hotshot. That's illegal."

"Excuse me, Miss Lawyer."

"Well, we don't want them to get pulled over while they're trying to go on their honeymoon," Leia reasoned.

"You're quite the nag, you know that?" he informed her playfully. She rolled her eyes. "I'd better take these to the rest of those weirdos," Han said, gathering up the boutonnieres. "See you at the altar, princess. You look beautiful, you know," he threw back with a wink.

An hour later, Leia's best friend was Shara Dameron, and they were standing in front of the church for the photographer.

"Smile!" he called, peeking through the viewfinder of his camera. _Smile, Organa. Think of something happy,_ she prodded herself. _He called me beautiful._ "There we go!" The bulb flashed.

00

"Do you need help with all that?" Han asked. Leia was weighed down with all sorts of wedding paraphernalia: her dress, Shara's dress, a centerpiece, a vase.

"If you'd hail me a cab…"

"Oh, for goodness sake. I'll drive you home. Now give me that before you drop it," he demanded, taking the vase from her arms and tucking it carefully in the back of his station wagon, shoving some aluminum cans out of the way.

"I don't want to get in the way of your romantic pursuits now that the reception is over. You can chase bridesmaids all you want," she teased.

"Nah. Not when I can stay here and annoy you."

"How lucky for me." Leia shoved a crate full of stuff into his arms and picked up a similar one. After a few minutes, they had his car loaded with everything and were headed in the direction of Leia's apartment.

"You know, now that this wedding's over, we won't be seeing a whole lot of each other," Han offered after several minutes of silence.

"I suppose not." The silence stretched between them again as Han attempted to read into her brief response.

"I'd like to see you again. We can talk about not-wedding things for a change." She only nodded, and he had no idea what to think of the enigma of a woman beside him. He helped her unload all the wedding stuff into her apartment, which was littered with boxes and strikingly empty. It suddenly dawned on Han that Leia was living alone, now.

"Well, I guess this is it," he prompted when everything was stacked in Leia's living room.

"That's right," she said coolly. Han sighed.

"Don't get all mushy on me, sweetheart. So long." She didn't respond and Han nodded succinctly. He was down the stairs and almost to his car when he heard her call after him.

"Han! Give me a call sometime, hotshot," she requested.

Her phone rang an hour later.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this Leia? It's Han Solo. You might remember me—we were in a wedding together not too long ago, and you told me to call. I was wondering if you might want to go on a date with me sometime."

 _Next week: We meet a priest named Father Luke, Han and Leia are back at the park, and the name of the game is miscommunication! I do hope you'll join us, same time and station!_

 _Thanks for reading! Send me your reviews, questions, and theories-I especially love reading where you think Han and Leia are headed next! If you want to see what Leia's bridesmaids dress looks like, I posted a picture on tumblr...it's scary and I would like to apologize to her._


	5. The Other Man

_AN: So glad you're all back again! This week has been hectic and I've tried to respond to reviews, but I am certain several of you slipped through the cracks-I am sorry, and I do truly appreciate them! The name of the game this week: miscommunication. I hope you enjoy this little round of Han and Leia being very Han-and-Leia-ish._

The Other Man

June, 1966

Han had no idea why Leia kept agreeing to go out with him or why he kept asking in the first place, but they kept going out, and they kept arguing.

He had absolutely no idea what the hell this woman's problem was. She could make an argument out of any little thing he said, and it seemed she _wanted_ him to argue back. It was like someone had given her a list of every topic that would make him boiling mad and told her exactly what to say to set him off. He'd never argued so much with another person.

And he liked it more than anything he'd ever done in his entire life.

The only thing he wanted to do more than argue with Leia Organa was kiss her, but he hadn't gotten _the signals_ yet, and he knew that pushing her into it before she was willing would be disastrous on all counts.

His singular consolation was that their arguing had become far less lethal. In fact, it was downright flirtatious. He could only hope that such a shift meant she was warming up to him.

Han wondered if things might change if he asked her to go steady. Did people even do that anymore? He'd been out of the game for a while, and Leia was a few years younger than he; what was she expecting? They'd been on how many dates now? Ten? Fifteen? They'd even spent a few of those dates at his house, electing to have a quiet, homemade dinner rather than face the crowded D.C. streets again. How many dates did you have to go on before a relationship was just _assumed_? Did such a number even exist?

Chewbacca nudged him out of his wonderings, looking anxiously between Han and the door. Han checked the clock and scrambled into his shoes. He was supposed to meet Leia in the park in five minutes.

Maybe it wouldn't hurt to at least _ask_ Leia what she wanted. Yeah. It was a perfect night for a long stroll. There would be a chill in the air once the sun was down, so he could lend her his jacket…or even put his arm around her. It was almost a full moon, too, and it would rise above the pond. It would be romantic. Girls liked romantic, didn't they? Maybe tonight was the night that she'd finally give him _the signal_.

Han stopped abruptly as he came around the playground. Leia was there, waiting on the appointed bench. And she wasn't alone. Han approached slowly, trying to come up with an explanation.

Maybe the man had just sat down next to her and, not wanting to be rude, Leia had stayed. But they were sitting awfully close… Maybe he was just someone she knew, an acquaintance. But acquaintances didn't put their heads on each other's shoulders and wrap their arms around each other.

Han's stomach dropped as the man pressed a kiss into Leia's temple. Was _this_ why she'd asked him to meet her here tonight? To introduce Han to her _boyfriend?_ Han continued down the path he was on rather than taking the curve that would lead him down to the bench where Leia and the other man sat. Chewbacca ambled happily along beside him.

 _What were you thinkin'? You know_ nothing _about this girl. She could be anybody. Whatever happened to 'she's gotta be somethin' special if she's gonna be with Han Solo?' Hmm? One hot little thing comes along and gives you the time of day and suddenly you're signing your life away. What's wrong with you, Solo? You used to be better than this._ His mind was overwhelmed with these thoughts and a thousand more like them.

 _She's different,_ he insisted. _At least, she was supposed to be._

00

"It's getting late, Leia," Luke said, checking his watch.

"I really thought he'd come. He's never stood me up before," she replied, not even trying to mask the sadness in her voice. He was her twin, and even though they'd spent their childhoods apart, he still knew her better than most anyone else.

"I'm sure something came up. Maybe he called after we left," he suggested. "Now come on. I bet we can find an ice cream man on the way home." Leia gave a small smile.

"Ok."

When they got back to her apartment, she tried calling, but no one answered.

Leia was sure he had a good reason. He wasn't like the few other men she'd dated. He was different. He was kind and thoughtful, and she didn't even mind when he drove her crazy. They argued a lot, but she enjoyed it. He challenged her on a mental level that no one else ever had, but could also make her laugh like nobody ever could. The other day, they'd argued over whether you had to wait for the water to boil or not before adding the spaghetti noodles and had decided to settle it by making a pot of each. But when he brought them to the table, Han couldn't remember which dish was which. It was the first time she'd laughed all day.

What perplexed Leia was why he hadn't tried to kiss her yet. She'd given him plenty of opportunities, when he walked her home, when they'd done the dishes… The only thing she hadn't done was come right out and _demand_ it.

Wait.

What if he didn't _want_ to kiss her?

He hadn't asked her to go steady, to be his girl, yet, and they'd been out together at least once a week since the wedding over two months ago…did he think they were just friends? Is that all he wanted to be? Leia was overcome with another wave of disappointment. Had she been reading too far into this the whole time, or had he lost interest partway through?

Maybe it was her work. She'd been busy lately, and she'd had to cancel more than once on him because something came up. Maybe he was sick of vying for her attention. That would explain the brush-off tonight; he wanted her to know what it felt like to be pushed back, forgotten about.

Leia sighed. She liked Han. A lot. To think that she'd driven him away…it hurt.

00

Han knocked on Leia's apartment door the next night. It was opened by the man he'd seen with her in the park. He swore under his breath. He'd known Leia was looking for a new roommate, but…

"I am so sorry. I had no idea," Han began apologizing to the other man before he could even get a word out. "I never even realized…" He swore again. _How could I have been so stupid? I was dragging my heels, and she wanted to move faster than I did, so she found someone else…_ "Please, believe me. I never would have…"

"I...Come in, please," the man invited. Han awkwardly followed him in to Leia's pink-tiled kitchen. "Hey, Leia?" She appeared from the back hall.

"Han! Where were you yesterday? Is everything alright?"

"I was fine."

"I was worried something happened! You didn't call."

"How could you not tell me about him? Hmm?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I saw you two together in the park yesterday. What kind of fool do you take me for, Leia?"

"The park? You were at the park? Why didn't you say something? I was expecting you!"

"I was there, yeah. But there was some tender little thing going on with you two that I didn't feel like interrupting!"

"Tender?—Han! This is ridiculous! I can assure you that whatever you saw was not what you thought it was."

"I know we aren't official or anything, but I would have at least liked to know when you two got together. It wouldn't have been a problem. Why didn't you just tell me?"

"Tell you _what?"_

"Why didn't you tell me about him?"

"Will you leave my brother out of this?" Leia demanded. He stopped short. _Brother?_ "Yeah, hotshot. _Brother_ ," she repeated triumphantly when she realized where his mind had taken him.

" _Twin_ brother, actually. Father Luke. Err, Luke Skywalker." The man held out his hand and Han shook it half-heartedly. It was only then that Han realized the man was wearing a cassock and a crucifix around his neck. How had he missed _that?_

"Luke was in town for our first foster father's funeral. Remember, Ben Kenobi? I'm sure I said something about it. Didn't I tell you my brother was going to be staying with me for a few days?" Leia asked. Han got the feeling of a cross-examined witness as she stared up at him, unblinking. Now that she mentioned it, he did remember something of that nature coming up in conversation.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Han Solo."

"He knows who you are, Han," Leia captioned. Luke nodded.

"Han Solo. Groovy. It's good to finally meet you," Luke greeted. "I've heard a lot about you. A _lot_." Leia elbowed her brother sharply in the ribs. Now that they were standing side by side, Han could see some physical similarities in their stature and facial features. Same little nose, same little unassuming hunch to the shoulders, same little nervous twitch in the fingers. There were definitely differences, though. Luke had tanned skin and sun-bleached hair in contrast with Leia's milky skin and dark hair, but Han remembered her saying something about Luke growing up with some of their distant relatives in Arizona or New Mexico.

"Now that we've got that out of the way, are you ready to go?

"Go? Go where?"

"We had a date tonight, or is that canceled because I'm dating my brother now?" she asked snidely.

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere with a bar. I need a drink."

"Uh…do you want to come and have a drink with us?" Han asked Luke.

"Did you seriously just ask a _priest_ to come to the _bar_ with us on a _date?_ "

 _AN: Tune in next week to this same station to learn more about Leia's mad lawyer skillz, and to see Han and Leia finally work out a few things between them! The next two chapters are definitely my faves, so do come back!_

 _As always, I always love reading your reviews, theories and questions here and on tumblr! Please take a minute to drop me a line if you enjoyed it!_


	6. Lawyering

_AN: Here we go with chapter five! Just a disclaimer before we begin:_ _This chapter contains serious themes of sexism and racism. I understand that, especially right now, these are very sensitive topics in the world. I did my utmost to handle these issues in the way they might have been handled in 1966 by these characters. I did not mean to offend in any way, shape, or form. I wanted realism, and I hope you respect my creative choices. Please know that I align myself with Leia in regards to these issues: it is the content of someone's character, not their gender or the color of their skin, that makes them who they are. If you want to skip that section, scroll down about half-way and just know that Leia is a badass._

 _And because that is all very serious, the second half of this bigger-than-normal chapter is something very light and fluffy that I think you guys will definitely like._

Lawyering

Later that Evening, June, 1966

Han held the door open for Leia and another couple who were entering the bar. They took a table near the back and each ordered a drink. Han was just about to ask her if she had any other mysterious brothers he should be aware of when he heard someone called his name from the bar.

"Why, Han Solo, ya'ole pirate." Leia turned to see the owner of the voice. A man in a flamboyant blue sequined jacket was walking toward their table, his hand outstretched to Han. The two men greeted each other with hearty slaps on the back.

"Lando Calrissian, I'll be damned." They both spoke at once for a moment until Lando turned his attention to Leia.

"Hell-o. Who do we have here? I'm Lando Calrissian, owner of the Tibanna Club down the street. Who might you be?"

"Leia," she replied icily as he took her hand and kissed it.

"Leia," he repeated. "Groovy. You are beautiful," he purred.

"Alright, yo'll smoothie," Han interrupted, taking Leia's hand. He was pleased that she allowed him to hold it for few minutes before she pulled back and reached for her drink. Lando and Han reminisced briefly about their high school days together before talk turned to Lando's business.

"I'll tell you Han, there's good money to be made in this town, if you know what I mean," Lando leaned toward Han and lowered his voice.

"Careful what you say," Han warned, tilting his head toward Leia. He wasn't sure if there were any rules about politicians having to report about anything illegal they'd overheard, and he knew that what Lando was about to reveal was probably not strictly above-board. Lando looked panicked for a moment.

"You a Fed?" he asked. Leia snorted.

"An attorney. Don't worry; the worst thing that could happen is I could hate you."

"An attorney, huh? I'd have figured you for something less…professional. Cocktail waitress, secretary…kindergarten teacher…" he listed. Leia contemplated throwing her drink in his face and walking out.

"I find it rather rewarding," she responded shortly.

"Isn't that a lot of schooling to go through just to have a job for a few years before leaving to raise your family?" Lando asked seriously. Leia found herself ascending to a new level of hatred for this man.

"I don't intend to leave my job to raise my family _if_ I decide to have a family at all."

"You know, you're awfully opinionated, for a girl," he stated. Han knew Lando was going to regret those words. He watched, slightly daunted, as the ire grew in Leia's eyes. She drew herself up to her full height, and though they both still towered over her, it was surprisingly terrifying.

"What do you mean, ' _for a girl?'_ Just because I am a woman means that I am supposed to be quiet and submissive, right?" she asked Lando, walking slowly toward him like a lioness stalking her prey. Han pitied anyone she ever faced down in court or in the political arena.

Actually, he didn't think he'd _ever_ be able to lie to her.

"That's not exactly what I…" Lando began.

"Do you believe that I am too _fragile_ to think for myself?" she asked. Lando was sitting down by then, but she continued her advance. "Do my ideas _threaten_ you, Mr. Calrissian? Does the fact that I don't need _you_ or any man to make up my mind for me threaten you? Does it bother you that I don't need you to tell me the ways of the world?"

"No. That's not it," Lando finally choked out. Leia backed off immediately, returning to her chair.

"What did you mean, then?" she asked, not taking her eyes off him.

"Just that…most women don't just say what they're thinking. You're…brave, I guess."

"Thank you." The tension in the air hadn't dissipated yet when the owner of the bar came over and spoke gruffly to Lando.

"Hey! Why don't you just move on, buddy, and leave these folks alone." Lando was immediately even more sober, ducking his head and trying to make himself look insignificant.

"Excuse me. He has just as much right to be here as any patron," Leia demanded of the barkeep before he could walk away. Her tone was polite and her face was calm, but Han could tell she wasn't done with lawyering for the evening. He sat back, knowing that there was no stopping her now.

The man turned back to look at her with the same surprised expression Lando had worn when Leia had first called him out.

"What was that, little lady?"

"I _said,_ " she stated slowly, "that Mr. Calrissian has just as much right here as anybody. He's a paying customer, so he can't be thrown out on loitering charges. He's not bothering us or any of the other patrons, so he can't be thrown out for harassment. He's not publicly intoxicated, and he is not disrupting the business of this establishment. I was just wondering why you think he should 'move along'." Leia asked. This statement seemed to anger the man, and he took a threatening step toward Leia. Han slid his chair back slightly, ready to pull her out of harm's way should the need arise.

"His kind don't belong here," the man sneered, leaning into Lando's space. Lando shrank out of the way, looking at the floor.

"His _kind?_ " Leia asked innocently. _You'd better know what you're doin', woman,_ Han thought to himself. "I don't understand. Will you explain that remark, please?" The man faltered just slightly at the request.

"You know," he replied, regaining his cocky attitude and gesturing to Lando's arm, his skin dark against the white Formica of the table.

"Why sir, are you suggesting that Mr. Calrissian can't be here because of the color of his skin?" Leia asked with perfectly feigned innocence. "Because that is certainly what it sounds like: discrimination. But that can't be right, because segregation has been illegal in the District of Columbia since 1953—well, technically forever, since the law that created it was unconstitutional—but it has been _decidedly_ illegal for more than a decade, sir." Her polite persona fell away and she was back to scary lawyer Leia. "I certainly hope that you're not suggesting that, sir, because, not only could Mr. Calrissian sue you for a considerable amount of money, but you could also lose your licenses _and_ your credibility." The man (who'd seemingly forgot that he was offended and that a woman was handing him his head on a platter) balked.

"I…I…"

"I recommend you go back to running your establishment and bring us our checks, please." Leia turned back toward the table, an obvious dismissal of the man. He returned a few moments later with their tabs, angrily slapping the paper on the table. They left the money on the table and started towards the door.

The owner grabbed Leia by the arm as they passed by.

"I don't ever want to see you in my bar again," he hissed.

"Let go of me," she demanded. The man roughly released her and she walked out with her head held high.

"Damn. You _are_ a lawyer," Lando smiled weakly when they were down the street. She nodded. "Too bad. You'd have made a great cocktail waitress," he teased. Leia rolled her eyes. "Thanks, though, for that. You didn't have to help me, 'specially after how I treated you earlier."

"I don't get much time before the bench anymore. It's good to know I've still got it," she responded diplomatically.

"Groovy. If you're ever free some night, I'd like to take you to dinner—not at my place," he added when he caught her expression.

"Thanks, but I'm taken," she responded as he kissed her hand. Han's eyes flashed quickly to Leia's, but he couldn't read what was written there. Their relationship was still in limbo, wasn't it?

"Lucky fellow. See ya'round, Han." The men shook hands and Lando started back toward his restaurant. Leia and Han walked down the block to where his olive-green station wagon was parked.

"Why'd'ya do that? I mean, the guy was bein' a dick, I agree. But why'd you play him like that?"

"Sometimes, people like that just need to see from another perspective how utterly stupid they're being. I'm not saying he won't ever say or do something like that again, but I planted the seed of doubt in his mind. Next time he does something bigoted, he will remember getting told off by a 28-year-old in his own bar," Leia explained, looking out the window at the neon lights as they drove out of the city toward the suburbs.

"Where is this all coming from?" he asked.

"No one deserves to be treated that way, even sexist scum like Lando." Han laughed out loud.

"You don't like Lando?" he ribbed.

"He's very _charming_ , but I don't trust him," Leia shot back. His chuckling died down and he asked her a final, serious question.

"Is there something you're not telling me about all this? Not just this thing tonight— why you always beat out inequality with a stick, why you work so damn hard all the time?" She was silent for a moment and Han wondered if he'd overstepped his boundaries.

"My father was killed by white supremacists for defending a black man in court," she said in a slow, practiced calm. He was silent, not sure how to respond to such information. "I don't want to talk about it," she added quickly afterward.

He nodded and tried to think of a new topic. Failing in that search, he flipped on the radio. One of The Beatles' new songs was playing, and he hoped that the cheery tune would bring her into better spirits.

"Wait, why are you turning here?" she demanded. "You're going to get stuck on the wrong side of the river!"

"Relax and let me do the drivin', please." She huffed and sat back against the seat. Han knew the road would definitely not get them back to Leia's apartment, but he knew she would just _have_ to correct him, which would put her back in her normal, feisty mood that he liked so much.

Twenty minutes later, they'd wound their way through several different neighborhoods and he'd been scolded more than when he'd tried to make mud pies in his granny's wedding china. Feisty Leia was back and more than willing to tell him why _his_ way was the _wrong_ way.

When they were finally back on the main road, he turned down the radio.

"You done being an attorney for the night?" he asked.

"Why?" she responded. "Does it bother you?"

"I'll take that as a 'no'," he replied. She smiled as she realized what she'd just done.

"I have a few briefs to read before I fall asleep, but I suppose I can take a few minutes off."

"Good. My turn. Why did you tell Lando that you're taken?"

"I would have told Lando just about anything if it meant that he stopped kissing my hand," she answered, but he could tell that wasn't the only reason.

"Did you have anyone in mind?" Leia was silent for a few moments.

"Maybe," she answered cryptically. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and found her studying him closely.

"Maybe…a devastatingly handsome man with a bear-dog?" he asked, and she giggled.

"Maybe."

"No fair. You said you weren't going to lawyer."

"I don't recall signing any contracts."

He pulled to the curb in front of her building and walked her up to the doorway. She stepped up on the stoop and pulled out her mailbox key, extracting the envelopes and flipping through them before closing the box and accidentally pinching her finger. He took her hand and began to massage it, focusing momentarily on the pinched knuckle but quickly turning it into an excuse to hold her hands in his. The added height of the stoop made her almost even with him, and he took the rare opportunity to look straight into her eyes.

"Why are you trembling?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I'm not trembling," she countered defiantly. He raised his eyebrows.

"You're not, hmm? Alright, then. You want it to be official? Be stuck with a devastatingly handsome man with a bear-dog?"

"I'll have to have a look at the terms and conditions first," she teased.

"Hey, no lawyering, remember? What do you say?" He tried to give her a smirk, but it turned out less as a smirk and more like a dopey grin. He put his hand on her waist and pulled her to the edge of the step.

"I say you're a scoundrel. Accosting a lady while she checks her mail..." He could tell that she was trying to sound reproachful, but it came out as a breathy whisper. His arm snaked around her waist and drew her closer.

"Nah. I'm helping an injured princess. I'm a nice guy," he corrected, covering her tiny hand with his.

"No, you're not. You're…" she was obviously struggling to think about anything, because her eyes had been on his lips for the last several seconds. They were millimeters apart, but he waited for her to make the last move. She took a breath and closed the distance.

Kissing Leia Organa was infinitely better than he could have ever imagined.

She tasted a little like the mint julep she'd ordered at the bar and like the cherry lipstick she was fond of. He'd had less than half of his whiskey over an hour ago, but she was making him feel completely drunk. Her arms were around his neck and her fingers were combing through his hair. He pulled her closer and she made a noise into his mouth between a giggle and a moan and he was just about to pull her feet off the ground when someone tapped him on the shoulder. Han pulled his mouth away reluctantly, looking to see who'd dared to disturb them.

"Excuse me, sir." It was the crotchety old man, Mr. Po, who lived in apartment C3. He was dressed in his gold metallic trench coat that reminded Han of something he saw on ' _The Twilight Zone'_ as a kid. Light from the stairwell reflected off his mile-thick, circular glasses and made his eyes appear to be glowing, further giving the old man the appearance of a robot.

"What?" Han growled, not taking his arms from around Leia's waist.

"You're blocking the doorway," the man rasped in his unidentifiable accent, shaking his fist at Han. They stepped out of the way and the old man hobbled his way up the stairs like his joints needed greasing, his little white dog skittering along behind him, yipping loudly. "Come on, Artie," the man beckoned his dog up the stairs.

"Okay, hotshot," she whispered when the door closed behind the odd pair.

"Okay what?"

"Okay, you've got me. Now what are you going to do to keep me?" He smiled at her for a moment before finding a far better use for his mouth.

 _AN: Next week: Angst, Leia's real backstory, cuteness, Han's backstory, cuteness and angst. A regular minuet and trio in writing form. Again, I am always available on tumblr and I love reviews! I love to hear your thoughts, questions, and predictions!_


	7. The Truth

_AN: I took a bit of creative license in this chapter. There was not, to my knowledge, an incident such as the one described here, in 1966. It's a plot device, and I hope you think that I've used it well._

The Truth

August, 1966

Han was sitting in the cramped office of the moving company, eating the sandwiches he'd brought for lunch. The tiny television was tuned in to the twelve o'clock news, but nobody was paying much attention to it. Han was trying to figure out what kind of evening he'd have to plan to convince Leia to blow off work for the second night in a row when the 'breaking news' icon began flashing. The sight caught Han's attention immediately.

It was the office building where Leia worked. The banner at the bottom of the screen read 'Bombing at Senate Offices Linked to Civil Rights Vote.' His hand shot out for the volume knob, and he cranked it to 'full'.

"…Device detonated at 11:46 this morning. So far no deaths have been reported, but several congressmen, paralegals, secretarial staff, and maintenance workers were injured. The fire department is still working to get the fire under control.

"Authorities received an anonymous telephone call at the time of the explosion. While specifics of this call have not been released at this time, police say that several senators and their staff were targeted due to their stance on civil rights, including Senator John Dodonna of Georgia, Senator Aaron Cracken of Maryland, and Senators Monique Mothma and Carl Rieekan of Alabama."

Leia worked for Carl Rieekan. Her office had been targeted.

Han was in his station wagon before the others had even registered what was happening. He drove the distance quickly, parking in the lot of a dentist's office when he reached the police line.

 _Leia, where are you?_

There were fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars everywhere. Men in sooty suits and women in dusty skirts and blouses stood in groups, huddled together against the fear that was palpable around the building. The structure was still smoldering, and firemen were hurrying about purposefully, getting the last of the fire under control. Off in the grassy area across the street, EMTs were helping injured people. But he couldn't find her anywhere. _Please be alright, sweetheart,_ he begged. As one minute turned to five, his panic increased.

He finally found her standing in the far corner of the parking lot with Carl Rieekan and a few other professionally-dressed people, stoically looking at the scene with practiced indifference. Her quiet inner strength astounded him more than her physical strength did.

She didn't hear him approach, and when he called to her quietly, she turned, startled, as if he'd screamed at her. It was only then that he saw the immense fear in her eyes. She practically fell into his arms, her façade fading as she burrowed into the safety of his chest. Han pressed kisses into her hair, mumbling comforting words.

"I've got you. Let it out, it's alright," he assured her as eerily silent sobs wracked her tiny form, as if she was practiced at hiding her sorrow.

Mr. Rieekan looked over at the pair and exchanged a significant look with a woman standing nearby.

"You'll see she gets home alright, son?" Rieekan asked.

"Yes, sir."

"Will you be alright, dear?" The woman put a hand to Leia's cheek.

"I'll be fine, Monique," she promised. Rieekan and Mothma nodded, moving toward a fireman who was beckoning them. "I…I don't want to go back to my apartment," Leia whispered. He nodded, tucking her under his arm and pointing her towards his station wagon.

They were quiet on the ride back to Han's house. Chewbacca greeted them warmly when Han unlocked the door.

"I'd like to take a shower," she stated, her voice back to the strong and even tone that he recognized.

"Sure. Did you have lunch? I can find us something…"

"That's alright, I'm not really hungry," she answered. The door clicked closed behind her, and he heard the water turn on. Han kicked around in the kitchen for a few minutes, moving his breakfast dishes from the table to the counter and then from the counter to the sink before deciding to just wash them quickly before she got out of the shower.

He finally turned the TV on, turning it from coverage of the bombing to a _The Newlywed Game_ and settling on the lime-green couch when he heard the bathroom door open. She had pulled on one of his shirts and her short hair was still damp. She'd washed off her makeup along with the soot. Han had never seen her without make up on, but he thought she was just as pretty without it.

"C'mere," he beckoned. Leia sat down next to him and leaned into his embrace with no urging on his part, nestling into his chest and wrapping her arms around him. He reciprocated the embrace and they sat, listening to Bob Eubanks ask the husbands questions. "You okay?"

"Yeah. It was a few offices down the hall, so I wasn't close enough to be hurt in the blast."

"That's not what I meant."

"Am I okay with the fact that people want to blow me up because I work for a man who doesn't believe in hating people based on the color of their skin?" she asked dangerously. Han cleared his throat.

"Yeah."

"I need to tell you something," she began slowly, sitting up and taking on a business-like stance.

Han turned down the volume on the game show and nodded for her to continue, sensing that she was about to divulge some dark and deeply hidden part of herself.

"My father was a lawyer in Alabama. He was well liked by everyone. Even if someone didn't agree with him, he could still convince them to do what was right in the end. He was…he was a real-life Atticus Finch, Han. And I was Scout. I wanted to be exactly like him. So I studied hard and got into a boarding school in New York, and then Harvard.

"He and my mother raised me to believe that it's the quality of people's minds that makes them different. Important. Special, even. It's not the color of their skin or their gender or anything superficial like that. So when I passed the bar, I wanted nothing more than to go into practice with him and start fixing the problem in Alabama. I was so young and innocent, thinking that _I_ could change the world, like that, just out of law school with my father.

"My dad took a case for a black man named Roger Clemens. He was accused of holding up a convenience store and shooting the attendant. It was straight out of Harper Lee. Daddy knew it wasn't him, and the judge was starting to believe him, too.

"One night, during the trial, Mama called and asked us to pick up some milk on the way home. We stopped at the A&P…and I don't know how, but he knew they were there. Daddy told me that Mama needed a new bar of Ivory Soap. That sent me across the store; it kept me safe." She stopped and heaved a heavy breath. He wasn't exactly sure what she was talking about, but he could see tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. "But I still heard the shots. I heard him cry out. I ran back, but it was too late. There was so much…blood," she breathed. "There was just such a cruel irony to it. The whole thing was started because someone was shot in a grocery store. It ended the same way for Daddy." The tears spilled over then, dragging sparkling tracks down her ghost-like cheeks. "I took over the case. I got him acquitted. I cleared Roger Clemens' name. For a few days, I thought that it might all be part of some big plan for me to step into my father's footsteps."

"And…"

"And then they…they got him, too. Three days after he went free, they lynched him." Her voice hitched. "It was a man known as Darrin Vader; I know it was him. He was a powerful business man in our town, and he had always hated my father for his beliefs on civil rights. He was the Klan leader in our area. He was probably behind my father's death, too, but the police were never able to prove anything. One Sunday, Mama and I came home from church to find all the windows broken in the house. Mama moved in with my Daddy's three sisters on the other side of the state, and I took the job here, working with Carl Rieekan. And I vowed on that day that I would never stop fighting this. _Them._ " Her voice was tiny, practically nonexistent. He pulled her to rest against his chest.

"It's easy to remember that, some days," she continued. "But not every day. Like today. Today feels like the day I learned what it sounds like when you fire a Colt 45 in an A&P."

"Leia…" he whispered again, holding her tighter. He'd known, very vaguely, the circumstances of her father's death. But he hadn't known she'd almost seen it happen or heard his last breath.

"Now you know," she finished, wiping away her tears. Her strength amazed him once again as she composed herself. Han had absolutely no idea what to say. There was nothing _to_ say, not a single cluster of words in the English language that could even begin to ease this woman's pain.

"One evening as the sun went down and the jungle fires were burning," he sang. She gave a watery smile as he continued to sing. Han ran his fingers through her damp hair as he continued his off-key crooning. "So come with me and we'll go and see the big rock candy mountain." Her head fell to his chest as she took a few deep breaths.

She was asleep before the last chorus.

00

Before that day, Han would have sworn on a stack of Bibles that Leia Organa was always 100% collected. Whether she was being chased by a giant dog or facing down an ignorant passerby, she always looked like she knew exactly what she was doing, like she was completely in control of herself and the situation. Hell, just today she'd been barely rattled when a bomb had gone off twenty feet from her office or when she'd told him about the KKK murdering her father. He would have readily believed that she could walk off a battle field, straighten her skirt, put on a fresh layer of lipstick, and continue taking the world by storm.

But all of that was before she'd fallen asleep on his chest and subsequently awoken after a two-hour nap, more adorable than a kitten.

Han had pulled his granny's crocheted afghan down over their legs when Leia started shivering. Leia's hair had dried in a strange little curl where he'd been playing with it. She stretched against him, causing some delicious friction, before her brown eyes opened and searched sleepily for his. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes like a child, scrunching up her pert little nose. Her fine stockings were bunched up around the ankles, making her already tiny feet looked even smaller. Her cheek was red and had little button-shaped indentations from where it had been pressed into his shirt, and her mouth curved up into a small smile when he ran his thumb down her jawline.

"Feeling better?" he asked.

"I don't want to talk about that anymore," she replied sharply. "I just want to…be a normal person for one night. Please?" He nodded quickly and ran his fingers through her hair short hair. She practically purred in response, and her lips found his a moment later.

"Telephone's ringing," she mumbled between kisses.

"Chewie'll get it," he teased, recapturing her full attention. The telephone continued to ring and the dog began barking at it. He pushed Leia gently to the end of the couch, muttering curse words. "Told you Chewie'd answer it. Don't forget where we were," he demanded, stomping into the kitchen to answer the phone.

She was too distracted to pay attention to the one-sided conversation.

"That was Jen. She's on her way over. Why don't we find something to eat?" he said when he returned.

They made dinner—well, Han made dinner. Leia mostly just sat on the counter, trying and failing at not being in his way. Not that he minded having her so close. Adorable Leia had retreated, but she was still more cuddly than he'd ever seen her.

Jen, Leia's new roommate, rang the bell at 5 o'clock. She'd brought Leia some clothes and a hairbrush.

"Your mom has called about eight times, Leia. She's worried sick," Jen informed her before going back to the apartment. Han pointed her to the blue telephone on the counter while he put plates and silverware on the little vinyl table.

He listened with amusement as Leia was passed around between her three aunts several times before finally being handed to her mother. She assured Breha that she was fine, not alone, and being well-taken care of.

"I'll call you later this week, Mama…Love you, too." She hung the receiver back on the hook. "Too many hens in the damn hen house, as Daddy would say," Leia muttered, drawing her chair closer to his at the table.

They ate the Mexican food that Han prepared, did the dishes, and curled back up on the couch. She was surprisingly willing to answer all the questions he asked about growing up in Alabama, about her parents, about reuniting with her brother after 20 years. He tried to stay strictly on happy topics and good memories, and she seemed to be happy telling him.

"I have an idea. I got some Rocky Road ice cream in the freezer. Let's make milkshakes," he suggested. Leia giggled. "My granny used to grind up Rocky Road and call it a 'Dusty Trail,' or somethin' like that."

"That's sweet. I'll take one." Han pulled her off the couch and led her the five steps to the citrus-colored kitchen.

She looked around the room as he made their dessert, her eyes finally falling on a shelf of dusty books. There was a dictionary, the red-gingham Betty Crocker cookbook that her mother swore by and her aunts detested, a telephone book, and an ancient-looking book bound in leather.

"What is this?" Leia asked, tapping the spine of the leather volume.

"Granny's old photo album. My uncle gave it to me after they cleaned out her house. You can look at it, if you want," he offered, turning back to the blender. She took it gently from the shelf and reclaimed her earlier place on the counter. Leia opened the cover, appreciating the way the leather spine crackled as she opened it and the way the fractured cover felt under her fingers, like the books in her father's library. It smelled musty and old, and faintly of perfume.

The first picture held a wedding portrait, taken in the early 1900's, based on the style of dress. Leia looked from the man in the portrait to her man at the counter. Despite the man's unruly hair and long beard, the resemblance was obvious, and it made her smile. The bride, no doubt Han's granny, was petite and delicate, with a head of light-colored hair and thick, wire-rimmed spectacles on her nose. Granny Solo was tucked protectively against her new husband's side, holding her bouquet in front of them. The photograph was loose, and Leia flipped it over to read the inscription on the back: ' _Wedding of Mazie Kanata and Charlie Solo, August 8, 1912.'_

The next page was covered with baby pictures, the name and birth date of each baby written in faded cursive in the white border of the photo. After that, there were photographs of those babies growing up: birthdays, proms, graduations. One page had several wedding photographs from the 30's sitting loose, pressed between the pages. They were all quite lovely: simple, but elegant, much like the tinted photograph of her parents' wedding that sat in the metal frame on the table by their bed. Leia liked the style of the gowns from that era. Breha had promised her dress to her daughter, when Leia's time came. She leafed through the portraits, finally finding Han's parents' portrait in the back. They were a lovely couple, and they were married the same year as her parents, according to the inscription. She could see where Han got his good looks.

"Here's your Dusty Trail, sweetheart."

"Thank you. It looks delicious," she replied, balancing the leather album on her knees and peering into the glass he passed her. Han took the album from her so she could stand and follow him back to the couch. He spread it open across their laps as they settled in with their milkshakes.

The next several pages were, to Leia's delight, pictures of Han's boyhood. His mother had died giving birth to Han's little sister, the baby surviving only a few days, and his father had been killed over France in the war, so he'd been raised by his Granny from the age of two.

There were pictures of Han's birthday cakes and first days of school. There was a picture of the day he finally passed the tiny, bespectacled woman in height, grinning his signature grin while standing back to back with her in front of a kitchen table. They found his graduation picture, young Han in a cap and gown and Granny Solo beaming from behind her thick glasses. There were a few pictures of Han in uniform, and Leia had to admit the sight made her heart flutter.

The final picture in the album was of Han holding Mazie like a man might his new bride. Both of them were obviously laughing, and Leia was pleased to realize that the look of happiness on Han's face in the snapshot was one she recognized, one she caused. He plucked the picture from the album and tucked it in his pocket, patting it lovingly.

Han enchanted Leia with tales of his childhood as the young and wiry sidekick of Mazie Kanata-Solo, and Leia decided she would have loved a chance to meet the tiny lady. She laughed till her sides ached and tears streamed from her eyes when Han jumped up from the couch and did an impression of his 4'11 care-giver hitting Han's uncle with a broom when he tracked mud into the house.

"She used to whack us all when we got out of line. All my uncles are taller'n I am, and she'd hit 'em with her wooden spoon or stand on a chair to cuff'em if they talked back to her. I remember once she made me bend down so she could smack me upside the head."

"Did you deserve it?" Leia asked.

"Oh, probably," he conceded, settling back in beside her.

"Well, then, I don't feel bad for you."

"Not even a little bit? Not even enough to kiss it better?" Han mock-pleaded, nuzzling his nose against her cheek.

"Oh, alright. Where does it hurt?" she acquiesced. He pointed to a spot on his head and she kissed it gently.

"And here," he added, pointing to his shoulder. Leia smiled and dropped her lips to his shoulder. "Here, too." Han touched his lips. Just as Leia was leaning in to kiss him, Chewbacca threw his front feet in Han's lap and licked his master's face. Leia rolled back on the couch, out of the way of the massive dog, shrieking with laughter. Han was busy wiping the dog slobber off his face, and Chewie was turning excitedly in circles, barking at the hullabaloo. "Come on, you crazy mutt. I'll let you out," Han relented, going into the kitchen to let Chewie out the back door.

Leia followed a minute later and found him leaned up against the counter, waiting for the dog to finish his business and come back. She leaned against him, winding her arms around his torso and putting her head against his chest. Han closed her in his embrace, too, and dropped a kiss into her hair.

The sunburst clock on the wall above the table showed that it was nearing 10 o'clock.

"You…want me to take you home?" he asked tentatively. Leia thought for a few moments and then shook her head against his torso. "I'll sleep on the couch," he offered. She shook her head again.

They went to bed after Chewie came back in. It seemed very domestic, very intimate, getting ready for bed with a woman. Han had been with other women before, but that had been entirely different from this. He'd never spent the entire night with anyone, not even his fiancée back in high school. He wasn't exactly sure what to say or do, but she nestled into his chest and closed her eyes.

As he fell asleep to the sound of her soft breathing, he knew in the back of his mind that he was holding the next 70 years of his life in his arms.

00

It started differently than her normal nightmares. The supermarket was empty, and she was walking through it alone, searching, _searching._ She called for him, knowing he had to be nearby. _Daddy. Daddy?_ The final aisle. She turned. He was all in white, a pointed hood with little eye holes perched on his head. Black gloves on his hands that held the revolver. Behind him on the floor was the pool of blood and the white sheet. _Daddy!_ she called to him again. The black-gloved hand raised the revolver and Leia screamed.

 _AN: So now you know! Next week: Some admissions and another argument...Final chapter in two weeks (yikes, how is it time for that already?) Please leave me a comment!_


	8. Closing Off

_AN: Posting this early because I'm sick and I want to sleep lots and wake up to some nice reviews...which I might not get because you're gonna hate me a tiny bit after this chapter... One more to go after this! Thanks ever so much to corelliansmuggler who helped me out with Leia's characterization!  
_

The Next Morning

August, 1966

Leia woke up very confused about her whereabouts for a brief moment before an arm shifted across her stomach. She was with Han, in his bed. The events of the previous day—and night—came back to haunt her. The little digital clock said it was almost 6 am, so Leia slipped out of Han's embrace and into the bathroom down the hall. She readied for the day, dressing in the clothes that Jen had brought the night before. She made coffee in the percolator and found some bread for toast.

 _How could you have done this? Shown him all your weak spots in one day?_ Breaking down on him at the senate office, clinging to him like he was the only solid thing in the world. She'd spilled practically her entire life story to him just because it felt nice to have someone there to listen. She'd never told that story in its entirety to any single person in her whole life, not Shara, not Jen, not even her brother. Later, they'd talked for hours about her childhood, her school days in New York, how she'd come to be so dedicated to her career.

And then she'd woken up screaming at 2 am, crying for her Daddy.

Somehow, thinking and talking about those events had changed her dream, made it terrifying and all too real.

Han had been good about it, considering the circumstances. He hadn't told her to be quiet or that it was all okay; he'd just held her, grounded her, while the cries gave way to sobs and then to exhausted, fitful slumber.

She'd cried in front of him three times in one day, and Leia Organa did _not_ cry. She'd sought comfort in his embrace all evening, something she'd been craving but avoiding ever since they met. It had somehow felt liberating at the time, like the door to her mental jail swinging open. But the nightmare had made her realize that the door could stand open for years and it wouldn't matter: she was shackled to those memories like they were a brick wall, chained to the worst day of her life inside her own head. The happiness she had with Han last night was lying just out of reach.

Han had emptied his pants pockets onto the little kitchen table the night before. Amid his keys, wallet, and loose change was the picture of him and Mazie. The smile on his face in the photograph warmed her heart for a moment before the blackness crept in. All she could see now was Han's terrified expression as he held her face between her hands in the parking lot of the senate building. He'd looked so worried, so concerned about her, so far removed from the peace in the photograph. And the horror in his eyes when she'd woken up after her nightmare, too…the same fear and concern had darkened his handsome face as he assured her it was just a dream.

Leia glanced again at the photograph. She hated being the reason that he wasn't smiling. She hated thinking that something might happen to him. Her stomach churned.

She was getting too close to this man, and that was not acceptable.

Leia felt the uncomfortable but familiar ache in her chest: the feeling that she was losing another part of herself.

00

Han rolled over, his hand sweeping the opposite side of the bed. He was eagerly awaiting the reappearance of Adorable Leia and hoped the nightmare hadn't sent her into hiding. It had been absolutely terrifying to wake up to someone screaming at the top of their lungs when he was so used to sleeping alone, but she'd turned to him for comfort, and there was no way in hell he wasn't going to give it to her.

Han sat up and ran a hand through his hair, trying to figure out where she might be. He pulled on his robe and went to the kitchen to start some coffee. Leia was sitting at the table, fully dressed and made up, eating toast and reading the paper. He could tell from the expression on her face that she was back to business. He pressed a kiss into her temple and she flinched.

"Mornin'. Didn't mean to startle you." Han poured himself some coffee and read the headlines over her shoulder.

"They made an arrest last night. In the bombing. He claims he worked alone and confirmed it was linked to the civil rights vote."

"Some people…I just don't understand. I'm glad they got him. I'm going to take a quick shower," he added.

She was gone when he got out.

00

Leia worked all day and long into the evening, crossing her threshold no earlier than 7:30. She grabbed her sandals and set out towards the park, hoping a quick walk in the summer air would help her clear her head. She wasn't terribly surprised when a big dog ran past her and his master fell into step beside her a moment later.

"What the hell was that this morning?" he asked quietly.

"I had a _nightmare_ , Han. I have them all-"

"Not _that_. Why did you leave?"

"It's complicated."

"Well, would you mind at least trying to explain it to me? I know I'm not as smart as some of the people you brush elbows with, but I think I can understand it if you don't use too many big words," he shot back. She looked at him, clearly stung.

"Stop being ridiculous, Han."

" _I'm_ being ridiculous? I am just trying to understand what the hell is goin' on here! Yesterday, you begged me to take you home with me and hold you all afternoon. Last night, you told me you didn't want to be alone. You woke up in the middle of the night, screamin' for all you're worth, and you held on to me like you're about to fall off a cliff and I was the only thing sturdy enough to keep you from goin' over. Then this morning, you decide we're gonna go back to the way things were six months ago?"

"Han, yesterday _scared_ me. Everything about it. I don't know if I'm ready for this."

"That's fine. Just tell me what you need."

" _I_ need?" He nodded.

She needed to laugh till her sides ached and tears streamed from her eyes. She needed to see her daddy again to tell him she loved him. She needed to be held every night for the rest of her life by someone who cared for her, loved her. But most of all, she needed keep from completely falling apart, and doing that meant cutting off anything that didn't push her forward.

" _I_ need?" she repeated. He nodded again. "Well…this bill to pass, for one thing. I need for my mother-" Han cut her off.

"No. Don't tell me what the country needs or what your office needs or what your family needs. What do _you_ need?"

"I…don't know. I don't know what you're talking about."

"No, you probably don't. You've been so busy taking care of other people that you forgot how to take care of _you_!" he exclaimed.

"I can't do this right now."

"Do what? Admit the way you feel about me? You are _allowed_ to be human, Leia! You can be happy or scared or sad, and none of that means you're not the strongest damn human on the planet." He moved to hug her, but she put her hand on his chest and held him at arm's length. "Don't do this to me, Leia. Don't lock me away with all the other stuff that you can't deal with right now," he pleaded. Warning sirens started going off in Leia's head. Somehow, he'd figured out that her defense mechanisms were denial and avoidance and that she'd gotten to be an expert at them over the past few years.

"I can't…I don't know how," Leia muttered. Han tried to touch her arm, but she stiffened at the contact. ' _24 hours ago, you were boneless in this man's arms. What's changed since then?'_ she asked herself. The answer came at once but wasn't easy. _'I have. I've changed.'_ "Why are you doing this, Han? Why are you with me? You've seen what a mess I am and you're still here. Why?"

"Because I love you!" They both froze. Those words hadn't been passed between them yet, and Leia wasn't sure if she was ready to say it back.

"I can't do this right now, Han." They stared at each other for a moment, shocked at both his confession and her rejection. Han moved first, scrubbing his face with hand and looking at the sidewalk. His expression was unreadable, but Leia could tell that her blatant rebuff had hurt him deeply. Leia bit her lip, trying to figure out how to recover from that.

"I'm gonna go. I'll call you in a few days." He whistled for Chewbacca and left her standing alone by the pond. Leia remained there for several minutes, letting everything wash over her before slowly starting for home.

He _loved_ her. The admission was hardly a shock; it was evident in the way he looked at her, held her, cared about her. But she hadn't expected him to _say_ it yet.

Frankly, Leia just wasn't sure she was ready to open herself up to that kind of love, or that she had any to return. The dull ache that still existed from her father's passing, homesickness from her sudden uprooting a month later, the fervor with which she was fighting for civil rights, the fresh terror from the bombing…all these emotions gnawed at her sense of humanity until all that was left was the empty shell of a person, leaving her incapable of feeling anything but pain.

She couldn't honestly say that she _didn't_ love him. She was quite fond of him, that was for certain. She loved who she was when she was with him, who he let her be. She loved that he wasn't afraid to argue with her, to give as good as he got from her. She loved how he could make her laugh with just a few words or a simple action. But did all those little loves add up to _love_ -love?

That was a question she couldn't answer.

Jen was in the pink kitchen when Leia got home.

"Leia, what's wrong?"

"It's…nothing. It's nothing, Jen. I'm going to bed."

00

"Han called while you were at work. He's got a blown tire on his truck and he's stopped at a truck stop somewhere near the Missouri/Illinois border on Route 66. He wondered if you would stop by and take care of Chewbacca till he gets back," Jen read from a notepad by the phone. It hurt that he'd called when he knew she'd be at work.

"Thanks, Jen." Leia walked the few blocks to Han's house and let herself in the back door with the spare key from the garage. Chewbacca was thrilled to see her, but more thrilled to be let outside to pee. While he completed his rounds of the tiny fenced yard, Leia waited in Han's citrus-colored kitchen, yawning. She'd tossed and turned all night.

Being in Han's house by herself after his confession the night before was completely upsetting. All she could think about were the times she'd spent here over the past four months. All her good memories for a long time had to do with this house and the man that lived in it. Any peace that Leia had made with herself regarding their relationship was dismantled, and she nearly found herself in tears by the time Chewie was scratching on the door to be let back in.

Han's maps and atlases were spread out on the table from when he'd planned his route. She turned a page in the atlas and found a piece of metal about as big as her middle finger. Han had shown it to her the other day, explaining that it was an adapter for the lug nuts on the tires of his van. The tires were made during the war and were of a small number made with less metal and rubber to help support the war effort. The tires, however, had turned out to be terrible and were now sold for practically nothing. The adapter was made to fit on the end of a regular tire iron so the tires could be changed.

But if it was here, how would he change his blown tire? He'd said the adapters were pretty rare, and that it'd be hard to come by one if he forgot it. She had to get it to him, but how?

Leia knew that she was in way over her head, and there was only one person who could help her. As soon as she got home, she dialed the long-distance number. The phone rang three times.

"Hello?"

 _AN: I can't wait to read your reviews of the second non-happy ending I've ever written for a fic/chapter! I'd love to hear your guesses on who Leia called! Come back next week for the mystery person's advice, and the thrilling conclusion to Before They Were the Solos!_


	9. The Long Night

_AN: The final chapter..._

The Long Night

Immediately Following, August, 1966

"Hello? This is the Organa residence." The woman's low southern drawl was like a balm for Leia's battered soul.

"Hi, Mama. It's Leia."

"Are you alright? Did something else happen?"

"I'm fine Mama, but I have a problem."

"Well, tell me all about it, baby." Her mother's kind voice sent her over the edge. She told Breha the entire story, sparing no detail of her argument with Han.

"Have you talked to him since?" Breha asked when Leia had finally finished.

"No. He said we should take some time."

"Did he give you a chance to say you love him back?"

"Yes. It was awful, watching his face the longer I went without saying anything…It's all my fault, Mama. I…I can't love him. It's just…not possible. But, I… _care_ about him, I really do. Things that matter to most people…they don't matter to Han. For example, one day, I had to cancel a date to do some research for Carl. Han told me he didn't mind making dinner and sharpening my pencils all night if it meant we could still spend time together. We barely spoke all evening, but he said he didn't mind.

"And the other night, after…after the bomb, I stayed with him. And I had a nightmare…about Daddy. I woke up _screaming_ , and Han didn't care. He just let me cry, held me and kept telling me I wasn't alone." Leia found that once she started, she couldn't stop.

"And that same day, he saw me without any makeup on and my hair all wet, and he told me I looked pretty." Physical beauty didn't mean everything to Leia, but it had warmed her heart to know he didn't care whether she was made up or not. She was instantly brought back to Kes and Shara's wedding and his sheepish admission that she looked beautiful in her maid-of-honor dress with the little veil and the peach bows around her elbows. She smiled. "And he sang to me, too. Han hates singing, but he thought it would make me laugh, I guess. It was so sweet." Leia paused, suddenly feeling sad when she realized that there was a possibility that there were not going to be any more moments like those in the future.

"Leia, I am going to be perfectly frank. Now, you know that I love you, but sometimes you can be as stubborn as your father, bless your hearts."

"What are you trying to say, Mama?"

"I am sayin' that you're passed the " _carin' about_ " stage and you are well into the " _in love with_ " stage."

"I can't be in _love_!"

"Why not? You can't possibly be telling me that you're _incapable_ of feeling' or showin' love. You do that in everything you do. So that means you're sayin' you aren't _lettin'_ yourself be in love, and that is just about the stupidest thing I ever heard. What could _possibly_ be keeping you from the best thing in the world?"

"I have my job and...plans, and…"

"And what, Leia? You're not going to be a paralegal forever. What if you get sick of bein' a lawyer and decide to do something else? There are always other jobs out there. There aren't other _Han_ s out there."

"But what if I hurt him? What if I get so caught up in my job that he thinks he's second place? What if he doesn't want to have to fight for my attention all the time? What if we have a _family_ and I can't be around for them the way a mother should? What if someone _else_ hurts him because of me, like Vader tried to do to you? Mama, I _can't_ hurt him." Leia was beginning to get worked up again.

"Child, child. Hush now," she soothed. "Love…you can't really _love_ without bein' at risk of getting hurt, and you can't really love without bein' at risk of hurtin' him. But love—real love—it heals that hurt. And real love is _worth_ it."

Leia mulled that over in her mind for a moment. Did she remember what real love felt like anymore? It was there, in her mind, like a distant memory: the way her mother's kiss could chase away the pain of a scraped knee or the way her father's lap could clear the clouds from a bad day. And it was with Han, too, waiting to be let in: it was there in the way he made her laugh after a day full of frowning, in the way he held her when her past became her present, in the way he saw her when she made herself invisible. All she had to do was open the door.

"It sounds to me like this young man is nothin' but supportive of you. He's gonna help you through everything: all the memories, all the nightmares, all the good times. He's gonna help you follow your dreams, honey, whether you decided to practice law or run for office or do anything else. He _loves_ you, Leia. The real, honest-to-Pete, marryin' and growin'-old love. Trust me. I know about that kinda love. Don't you _dare_ take that for granted, you hear me?"

"Yes, Mama."

"Now that we've got _that_ part outta the way…would you do all that for him? Would you support him, no matter what he wanted to do with his life?"

"Of course." Leia felt the door opening and the love seeping in, filling her with warmth.

"You'd help him follow his dreams?

"Yes."

"If you think about him leaving—or worse yet, if you think about never having known him at all, how does that make you feel?" Leia felt her stomach churning at that thought. The thought of not being with Han…never even _knowing_ him…

"If…if that's what he really wanted. If it would make him happy."

"You want him to be happy, then?"

"Well, _yes._ More than anything," she added quietly. "Because…because I _love_ him," she admitted for the first time out loud, loving how the words tasted on her tongue. Leia heard Breha stifle a chuckle. "I _love_ Han, Mama."

"That's right, baby."

"I love him." Breha chuckled again. Leia felt like she could do anything, the feeling was so strong.

"Now the question is: what are you gonna do about it?" Leia's soaring hopes hit the ground with a thud that was almost audible.

"I'm not sure. He's stuck somewhere in Missouri with a flat tire and no way to change it." The line was quiet for a minute as the two women searched for a solution.

"Do you remember when I would read to you out of the fairy tale book before bed? Every time we would read one, you'd be disappointed that the princess always got saved by the prince and it was never the other way around. Well, baby, now it's time for you to go rescue the man you love. Go save your prince."

"The man I love. Thank you, Mama. Thank you so much. I love you."

"I love you. Drive safe, Leia. Call me in a few days." Leia hung the receiver up and hurried to her room. She had no idea what to pack, so she threw a change of clothes and her toothbrush into her old briefcase. She scribbled a brief explanation of her absence to Jen and ran the six blocks to Han's house.

Chewbacca seemed a bit confused by her reappearance but welcomed her anyway. Among Han's maps spread out across the table, she found a list of possible stopping locations. Glancing over the list and the charts, Leia tried to figure out where he might be. If her guesses earlier had been right, he was somewhere in southern Missouri. If she left right away and drove through the night, she'd be there by noon. She grabbed a few cans of Chewie's dog food, scooped up all the maps, tucked the adapter in her briefcase, and put Chewie in the back seat. Then, she pulled out of the driveway and set off to save her prince.

00

Han was wondering how his life had gone from just fine to completely miserable in such a short time. He'd been stuck at the same stupid truck stop for a whole day while someone rustled up the adapter for his tire iron. It had allowed him plenty of time to work on other aspects of the truck, but the tinkering gave him an inordinate amount of time to think, and his mind would predictably wander to Leia and the mess of things he'd made between them.

He was lying under the truck on a piece of cardboard, looking over the exhaust system when someone tapped him on the foot.

"Who's there?" he called gruffly.

"Someone who loves you." That voice could only belong to one person, and she had used the word _love_. _Love_. He scrambled out from under the truck. She looked like she'd been driving all night, but she was still the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"Leia." He wasn't sure who moved first, but the next thing he knew, she was in his arms and they were kissing and that was all that mattered in the whole world.

When they finally separated, Leia held up the adapter he'd left on the kitchen table.

"You're amazing, you know?" he asked, taking the adapter from her. She smiled and gave him a shrug. "How did you get here?" She pointed to his station wagon parked near the restaurant. Chewbacca had his enormous head sticking out the window.

"We've been bonding." Han kissed her again.

"You look exhausted. I've got a room at a motel a few miles down the road. You can sleep, shower if you want. I'll be there in a little while," he promised. Leia yawned and took the room key from him. He kissed her one more time before she walked back to his station wagon.

"I love you," she called over her shoulder. He looked smugly back at her.

"I know."

00

They were lying together on the cheap mattress, wrapped around each other as the morning light filtered through the curtains. Han was peppering her face with kisses and she was giggling at his affections.

"See? I told you that falling asleep together is only half the fun," he replied, holding her even closer and starting down her neck.

Han had come to the motel the night before to find her freshly showered and sleeping on the bed. They'd gone to dinner, where they'd talked everything out: their desires not to hurt the other person, Han's feelings of inadequacy, Leia's fear of closeness, and what that meant for their future. Some parts of the conversation hadn't been easy, but it was important that they get through it.

Fortunately, they had, and the night had ended with far more pleasurable pursuits.

"I didn't doubt you," she replied, pulling his lips back up to hers.

"How do you expect me to want to sleep by myself ever again?" he asked.

"This is a Sunday, hotshot. I don't think you're going to want to get up at 5 am every morning with me." Han kissed her passionately.

"I don't know. I would get up pretty early for this," he teased.

"Will you bring me back here some day?" Leia asked as he gave attention to the soft spot behind her ear. He tore his lips away and glanced around the nondescript motel room.

"I know last night was pretty good, sweetheart, but I'm sure we can find a better place to…relive the memories."

"That's not what I meant. I _meant_ this area. Route 66," she teased.

"Sure. It's a nice place. Maybe someday, we'll drive the whole thing together. Start in Chicago and go all the way to California. We'll get a tent and take Chewie and we'll camp along the way. We can even stop in Arizona and see your brother," he offered. "It'd be a nice vacation; it takes about two weeks to do it right."

"Two weeks? I don't think I'll be able to take that much time off in a row until I retire."

"Hmm, I'll wait," he offered, nuzzling her neck.

"We might need a camper by then. I don't think I'll want to sleep on the ground when I'm 60."

"Well, I'll be almost 70 by then. Maybe we could do it in a few sections. Just take a few days, go a couple states at a time every few years."

"That doesn't sound too bad."

"We could do the first section as our honeymoon," he suggested without thinking. Leia sat up, looking at him in surprise.

"Why, hotshot, is that a proposal?"

"It might be…soon…if you want it to be. Someday when we're dressed and thinking with our heads and not…other parts. Plus, I should probably get you a ring and think up somethin' nice to say and get down on my knee. I'm a nice man, remember?" Leia kissed him soundly. His hands slipped down from her shoulders and she squealed as he tickled her ribs.

"Nice man, my foot. You're a scoundrel, through and through." Han's hands dipped even lower. "And I don't think I'd want you any other way."

"You know, we're going to have to drive back at some point. Separately," he added glumly.

"Well, then you'd better give me something to remember you by."

 _AN: Before we go on to the epilogue, I have a few people that I need to thank: Once again, thank you to my fabulous betas, Captainskysolo and Reading Writing Watching! Thank you also to CorellianSmuggler for looking over these last few chapters for characterization! Thank you to every single one of you who has taken the time to write me a review, especially the guest reviewers who I couldn't reply to! I read and appreciated every comment given! Thank you all, so very very much. This has been a pleasure. And now, onto the epilogue...remember how I promised Leia a nicer dress? Yeah, that's coming. If you want to see a picture, there's one on tumblr!_

 _All the love, Organanation_


	10. Epilogue

Epilogue

May 6th, 1967

Han peeked into the hall before darting across into the choir room. Leia was waiting, just as they'd planned. He paused for a moment to take her in. She'd chosen to wear her mother's wedding dress. It clung to her shoulders and hips and fell to the floor in a pool of silk and lace; the sleeves brushed her wrists and the back dipped low, covered tastefully by a long lace veil.

She held out her hands, and he took them gently.

"You can touch me. You won't break me, I promise," she whispered. He drew her close, and his forehead fell to hers. His hands went to her waist, and her arms wrapped around his neck.

"We're getting married in a few minutes," he whispered.

"I know. I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too."

"Nervous?"

"Not a bit."

"Good. Me either." They were both silent for a moment as someone hurried by the door.

"I don't _know_ where they are, Celly! That's why we're lookin'."

"Well, that happened quicker than I thought it would," Leia muttered.

"Kes and Shara warned us that we wouldn't get a single moment by ourselves. That's why we did this, remember?" he soothed, rubbing his thumbs across her hipbones.

"I'm glad we did," she replied. The door opened, and Shara poked her head in. She winked at Han and Leia and turned back to whichever of Leia's aunts was in the hall with her.

"Not in here. Maybe they're out back," she suggested.

"Thank you," Leia mouthed. Shara gave a covert nod and closed the door.

"That ought to give us a few more minutes," he mumbled, drawing her back in. "This time tomorrow, we'll be in Chicago. Just you and me, and we won't have to hide in an empty choir room."

"And I certainly hope the dress code will be far less formal," she teased, tugging playfully at his lapels.

"Hmm…I think the dress code should be no dress at all…" he whispered scandalously. He brushed kisses along Leia's hairline. "But you do look beautiful, sweetheart." There was a gentle knock at the door.

"That's Shara," Leia breathed. "It's time."

"See you at the altar, sweetheart."

 _AN: Please tell me what you thought of the conclusion to our story!_

 _Where we are headed next: Back to weekly posting (but not next week, I will be on vacation with no computer. Sorry!) After that, though, we are back to one-shots in the GFFA. I also have one BailxBreha one-shot in the list, and a one-shot from this 'verse that I think you will all like, so be sure to stick around. And, coming probably in May, we have a story that will be about as long as this tentatively titled 'Becoming the Organas' which details how Bail and Breha met and got together. It's all very exciting, and I do hope you will stick around!_


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